Appalachian State Powers Past Baseball

Appalachian
State University used six extra-base hits, including three home runs, en route to defeating the Canisius
baseball team 13-6 on Monday afternoon in Boone, N.C. The Griffs see their 2013
record even at 2-2.

Five Golden Griffins reached base three times in the game, with junior
Jose Torralba and senior Christian Segar each posting two hits on
the day. Senior Chris Gruarin
had a single and two walks, sophomore Connor Panas had a walk, single and hit by pitch and senior Manny Hernandez was hit by a pitch twice and walked. Six Golden Griffins scored
a run for Canisius with four of the six Canisius runs scored being unearned.

After
the Mountaineers got on the board in the top of the first, the Griffs took
their only lead of the day with two runs in the top of the second. Junior Jimmy Luppens led off with a single and
moved to second after Torralba was hit by a pitch with one out. Hernandez reached on an error by
Appalachian State, which allowed Luppens to score an unearned run on the play.
With runners at the corners and one out, Hernandez would be picked off first
base for the second out of the inning. Sophomore Mike Booth scored Torralba with a single through the left side to
give the Griffs a 2-1 lead.

The
Mountaineers (2-0) came right back with four runs in the bottom of the second,
scoring all of the runs in the inning on three home runs. The Griffs got one
back in the top of the third as sophomore Connor
Panas reached on a one-out single. After a walk to Gruarin, Torralba
reached on an error to load the bases. Hernandez forced home Panas after he was
hit by a pitch to make it 5-3.

Appalachian
State broke the game open with two runs in the bottom of the third and fourth
innings to go up 9-3. The Griffs plated a run in the fifth as Gruarin singled
to right and then scored on a two-out, RBI double from Torralba. Appalachian
State pushed across four more runs in the seventh while the Griffs scored
single runs in the eighth and ninth innings. Junior Shane Zimmer had an RBI single in the eighth while Hernandez scored
on a passed ball in the ninth.

Redshirt
senior Billy Martin took the loss
for the Griffs, allowing seven runs on seven hits in three innings of work.
Sophomore Aaron Capser allowed five
runs, while striking out five batters, in his three innings of relief. Sophomore
Eric Stolzenburg got the first out
of the seventh while junior Jon
Fitzsimmons threw a scoreless 1.2 innings.

Jeffrey
Springs started for Appalachian State allowed three unearned runs in three
innings while Sam Agnew-Wieland allowed two runs in 4.2 innings of relief.
Dillon Dobson was 2-for-4 with two runs scored and two RBI for the Mountaineers
while Preston Troutman went 3-for-5 with two runs scored and two RBI, and Josh
Zumbrook was 2-for-4 with two runs scored and three RBI.

Canisius
returns to North Carolina for four games next weekend at UNC Asheville. First
pitch for Friday's single game is set for 3 p.m.